In a recent study, scientists from Queen’s University Belfast found that dogs can detect nervousness in humans through sweat and breath.
The results of the study have been released in PLOS ONE. Clara Wilson, a PhD researcher, and Kerry Campbell, an MSc candidate, conducted the study at the School of Psychology. Zachary Petzel assisted in gathering the human physiological measurements under Catherine Reeve’s supervision.
Treo, Fingal, Soot, and Winnie, four Belfast-based dogs, as well as 36 people, participated in the study.
Participants’ breath and perspiration samples were taken by researchers both before and after they completed a challenging math problem. Before and after the task, they self-reported how stressed they were, and the researchers only used blood pressure and heart rate data when the person had been more anxious.
The dogs were trained to find the right sample by searching a line-up of scents. The stress and calm samples were then combined, although at this point the researchers were unsure if the dogs could detect a change in odour.
Each dog in every test received samples from one person who was both relaxed and under stress, taken just four minutes apart. Each dog was able to notify the researchers to the stress sample of each individual.
“The results reveal that we, as humans, emit different odours through our perspiration and breath when we are worried, and dogs can tell this apart from our smell when we are relaxed – even if it is someone they do not know,” says Clara Wilson, a PhD student in the School of Psychology at Queen’s.
The study shows that canines can detect human tension without visual or aural signals. This is the first study of its sort, and it shows that canines can detect tension only from breath and perspiration, which may be helpful when training service and therapy dogs.
“It also contributes to our understanding of how dogs may comprehend and interact with human psychological states and sheds additional light on the human-dog interaction.”
Treo, a two-year-old Cocker Spaniel, was one of the exceptional sniffer dogs that took part in the study. As the owner of a dog who loves on scent, Helen Parks adds, “We were happy and eager to see Treo take part in the study. Each week when we picked him up, we eagerly anticipated hearing the results. He could navigate himself to the lab and was always so happy to see the Queen’s researchers.
“The study increased our understanding of how a dog may “see” the world using their nose.
(source : ANI)
